Some studies have shown a clustering of obesity, insulin and hypertension. The present study was performed to further characterize these associations.
In a population of 51-year-old men (n=284), measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were analyzed in relation to general obesity (body mass index) and central obesity (waist: hip circumference ratio and abdominal sagittal diameter), and to the fasting insulin and insulin: glucose ratio as an approximation of insulin sensitivity. The regulation of diurnal cortisol secretion was examined in repeated salivary samples.
Linear regression analysis showed that all three parameters of obesity were significantly and strongly related to both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, more powerfully than insulin, glucose and insulin sensitivity (insulin: glucose ratio). Stepwise multiple regression showed that only central obesity, measured as the abdominal sagittal diameter, remained significantly (P